


Gallagher's, that's like a diagnosis

by k8ydid



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 23:30:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3788395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/k8ydid/pseuds/k8ydid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On Shameless they always mention in passing some bizarre event from their childhoods, this work will be multi-chapter pieces of those events. And the events might not necessarily be in any order, some might be completely fictitious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gallagher's, that's like a diagnosis

**Author's Note:**

> This will be slightly difficult because of the writers don't really stick to the best timeline. Because of this, my story-line will start out with recognizing that in Season One Fiona was 21, Lip was 17, Ian was 15, Debbie 10 3/4, Carl 9 and Liam 2. This first chapter is a completely fictitious one, pulling on a few events Fiona mentions from Season 3, Episode 7. Not everything mentioned in her story from court are in this chapter but could appear in the future. I own nothing.

Fiona was a little less than a month away from turning four when Lip was born. She was still too young to have that many memories prior to him arriving, though she was sure if she had any there was a reason they were repressed in the deep recesses of her mind. The little she does remember was everything leading up to her new sibling. 

She, Frank and Monica were living in the basement apartment of Uncle Nick’s house. It wasn’t much bigger than the size of the kitchen at Aunt Ginger’s. There were two rooms and a bathroom. One room was a living room and a kitchenette and there was a small bedroom off of it. She shared the bed with Monica most nights, when Monica would come home. Frank would pass out on the couch or floor if he came home at all. 

“What’s that?” She asked pointing to the foreign object in front of her. She was sitting on the bed with her mother one afternoon while Uncle Nick put something together at the foot of it. 

“It’s a crib, Fi,” Monica told her smiling. 

“What’s a crib?” 

This was the most lucid her mother had seemed in a while, not the cartoon character she was used to.

“It’s like ah…a bed for babies,” Uncle Nick explained.

She let out a slight whine and pushed herself away from her mother and closer to the wall the head of the bed rested against. 

“I’m not a baby! I’m a big girl!” She asserted. That’s what Daddy had told her anyway.

“It’s not for you, Fiona,” Monica said turning around to look at her, grabbing her foot and shaking it playfully. “It’s for your brother,”

“Brother?” She repeated, testing the word out in her mouth; it felt so foreign to her. 

“Your mom’s having a baby!” Nick stopped what he was doing and looked at Monica. “Didn't you tell her?”

“I just found out myself not too long ago,” Monica said in a hushed tone turning around to face Nick. 

“What? You are five months pregnant!” He sounded angry. 

“Fiona, why don’t you go watch TV? I have to talk to your Uncle Nick about something,” Monica smiled again, this time not as bright. 

Fiona hopped off the bed and walked out of the room. She still had many questions she wanted answered but knew it wasn't the time. Whenever Uncle Nick got angry with either of her parents she knew to stay quite. Daddy had her help him talk to Uncle Nick once and he got very upset. She didn't like when people were angry with her. She’d look back now and understand he was angry at Frank for using her as a ploy but back then she thought he was mad at her. 

She sat on the couch, the TV was on but she was listening to them argue in the other room. She heard words like responsibilities, mature, children and clean being thrown around. After what felt like an eternity she heard Uncle Nick stomp out of the bedroom march up the stairs to the main floor and slam the door behind him. The reverberation of the door against its frame made her shake. Then there were sobs coming out of the bedroom. 

“Mommy?” She asked timidly standing in the doorway to the bedroom. 

Monica was lying on her side, with her back to Fiona. Fiona started to panic when there was no response. Mommy did this sometimes, laid in bed for days on end. She just started to seem better. Fiona did not want her to go back to how she was. She rushed over to the bed and crawled over to the side her mother was facing. 

“Mommy?” she asked again. “What’s wrong? Don’t cry,”

“Is Uncle Nick mad at us because we messy? I help clean,”

Monica sniffed sitting up and pulled Fiona to her side. 

“Nothing is wrong sweetie. This baby is going to fix everything. We are going to be a family,”

Fiona didn't say anything, surprised by her mother’s affection and enjoyed it while it lasted because it never did. 

She was told again over and over the months leading up to Lip’s arrival that he would make them a family, and that things were not going to be like they were. Her little brother would fix them. She didn't entirely know what Monica meant by this, but she never asked her. She’d just nod; it had to be true, because her mother never reassured her so much about something before. 

When Lip did come home, he was tiny. He was the size of one of her dolls and this was incredibly fascinating to her.  
“Fiona, this is your brother Phillip,” Monica said putting the baby down so Fiona could look at him. 

She still couldn't pronounce F sounds and when she would introduce herself it was as “Ona,”

She tried to repeat it but it air just pushed through her front teeth. After several attempts of this, “Lip,” is all that came out. Monica gave up, and the baby was referred to as Lip since then. 

She would stand next to the crib and peer in on him. He didn't do much and eventually she came to despise him all together. All he would do was cry or sleep. He got all of Monica’s attention and when she wasn't doting on him, she was sleeping. Daddy was home even less than he was before. 

It was hard for her to sleep through the night once the baby came, he would cry every couple of hours. He was really the worst thing that could have happened to her. She had finally started to nod off after Monica got Lip to go down after hours of crying, when she heard a crash. 

“Piece of shit!” she heard her father curse and stumble in the other room. She sat up, excited he was home but then the baby started to cry.  
“Oh, Lip!” Monica clucked and got out of bed to deal with the baby. 

Fiona started to get up but heard more stumbling and cursing from the other room and stayed put. Daddy must have been feeling sick, and when he was feeling sick she was NOT supposed to bother him. Lip wouldn't stop crying though, and Monica was growing frustrated. 

“Shut her up!” Frank roared from the living room. “I’m trying to sleep,”

“You woke up your son!” Monica yelled back, putting a screaming Lip back in his crib. She then went into the living room leaving Fiona with the baby.

“Where the hell have you been Frank?” 

Fiona couldn't make out most of what they were saying, but she could tell that their conversation was very heated. Lip was crying still. She wondered if the arguing upset him as much as it did her. It scared her sometimes. She was afraid of what Daddy would do when he would get mad. She quietly made her way to the end of the bed. She put her hand in through a slit of the crib and let Lip grab one of her fingers. 

“Shhh,” She whispered to him. She heard Mommy say this to him sometimes. He didn't stop crying but he did get a little quitter.

“It’s okay Lip. They will stop,” 

She put her other hand in side of the crib and rubbed the top of his head. 

“Mommy said you fix this, but no one can,”

They were still fighting in the living room but it escalated, she could hear pushing and slapping. She took her hands out of the crib and held on to two bars, squeezing them tight. When her parents would fight this way she would put her hands over her ears and sing to herself so she couldn't hear it. This wouldn't help now, Lip would still hear them fighting. 

“We stay together,” She said to the baby. “I help you,”

She started to sing the itsy bitsy spider to him and after the second or third time he stopped crying. She smiled at him. 

“I fix it,”


End file.
